June 2005 – SAT Essay Prompt

June 2005 – SAT Essay Prompt

If you took the June 2005 SAT Reasoning Test, you would have been given one of the essay prompts below:

Prompt 1
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the

Assignment:
below. Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present. Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

Assignment:
: Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?

Prompt 2
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the

Assignment:
below. I cannot comprehend those who emphasize or recognize only what is useful. I am concerned that learning for learning’s sake is no longer considered desirable, that everything we do and think must be directed toward the solution of a practical problem. More and more we seem to try to teach how to make a good living and not how to live a good life. Adapted from Philip D. Jordan

Assignment:
: Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills?

Prompt 3
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the

Assignment:
below. Most of our schools are not facing up to their responsibilities. We must begin to ask ourselves whether educators should help students address the critical moral choices and social issues of our time. Schools have responsibilities beyond training people for jobs and getting students into college. Adapted from Svi Shapiro

Assignment:
: Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?

Prompt 4
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the

Assignment:
below. The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape culture and values. Adapted from Alison Bernstein

Assignment:
: Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine what is important to most people?